Elena Rybakina battled her way into the Qatar Open quarter-finals after coming from behind to beat Zheng Qinwen.

The world number three was forced to work hard in Doha, eventually claiming a 4-6 6-2 7-5 victory in just short of two-and-a-half hours.

Tenth seed Victoria Mboko, who overcame Mirra Andreeva in the round of 16, waits in the last eight for Rybakina.

Zheng came flying out of the blocks, securing a break of serve to go 3-2 up before holding out with the ball in hand and clinching the lead on her second set point.

Australian Open champion Rybakina failed to muster a single break point in a poor first set, but brushed her opponent aside with a break of serve in the fourth game of set two.

The second seed appeared to wobble in the decider, missing a match point on Zheng's serve before suffering a break on her own serve in the following game, but she recovered to see off her opponent without a tie-break needed.

Hard fought!

Elena Rybakina books her spot in the quarterfinals in three sets against Zheng!#QatarTotalEnergiesOpen pic.twitter.com/FpOIQJ3KZq

— wta (@WTA) February 11, 2026

Data Debrief: More Middle East joy for Rybakina

Australian Open champion Rybakina became the fourth player to reach 10 or more quarter-finals in WTA-level tournaments held in the Middle East, joining Caroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska and Jelena Jankovic.

She was forced to sweat on her progression here, though Zheng's six double faults to Rybakina's one proved costly in the moments that mattered.

In such a hard-fought encounter, Rybakina won 13 of her 15 service games, compared to Zheng's 11 in as many games, with that another decisive factor of an entertaining battle.